The Far West Brings Fire-forged Americana to Mojave Gold

Life has a way of testing bands—records stall, lineups shift, finances dwindle, disasters strike. But rarely does a single album survive a global pandemic, lost masters, and a historically ravenous wildfire consuming a football field a minute. For Los Angeles country/Americana troubadours, The Far West, their third full-length, Everything We Thought We Wanted, is less a record than a courage filled, hard fought, love story bled onto wax.

From Legion Halls to Legends

Formed on the grit and grind of L.A.’s Americana undercurrent, The Far West—Brian Bachman (drums), Aaron Bakker (guitar), Robert Black (bass), Lee Briante (guitar, harp, vocals), and Michael Whiteside (keys)—built their name on whiskey-soaked Sundays at Echo Park’s Grand Ole Echo and road-worn sets at Hotel Café, the Satellite, and desert sanctum Pappy & Harriet’s. They backed their reputation with two raw, one-take-and-done LPs: a self-titled debut (2011) cut inside an American Legion hall, and Any Day Now (2014), tracked in a hot-rod garage.

That bar-band firepower earned them bills alongside Lucinda Williams, Jackson Browne, Steve Earle, Justin Townes Earle, and the Alvin brothers. But the new batch of songs Robert Black and Lee Briante were writing—lyrically sharp, heavy with heartache, and stitched with Neil Young grit and Hank Williams–meets–Harlan Howard honesty—demanded something more.

As Briante puts it:

“We don’t sit down and say, ‘Let’s write a sad song.’ It’s just what comes out—real life, messy life. We write the kind of horribly painful songs you can dance to.”

Midnight Heists and Dave Alvin’s Guitar Fire

For the first time, The Far West slipped into a real studio, breaking in after hours. “One of us was teaching at an audio school,” Black laughs. “So, we’d sneak in at midnight, fire up this old Neve board, and track until four in the morning.”

The first cut, “Hope I Don’t Bleed,” wasn’t just another late-night jam—it carried the molten fingerprints of Dave Alvin himself. A longtime hero of the band, Alvin had recently shared a stage with them. With Briante’s son being born the same day Alvin was in town, life forced a split-second decision. “My wife literally told me, ‘Go,’” Briante remembers. “I left the hospital, walked into the studio, and Dave laid down fire. I wasn’t gonna miss that.”

Pandemic Perfectionism

By 2020, the bones of the record were down—then COVID hit. Instead of rushing, they leaned in. “We said, ‘Fuck it, we’re not putting it out during a pandemic anyway,’” Black explains. “So let’s actually take our time and make it sound like we want.’”

Bakker’s Altadena home studio became their hideout, slowly layering horns, harmonies, and the kind of Muscle Shoals soul they’d always admired from afar. Guests like Katie Stratton (The What Four) and the Hollywood Horns expanded the band’s sound beyond its barroom roots.

The Album That Lived

Everything We Thought We Wanted isn’t just another entry in L.A.’s Americana canon. It’s a document of survival, equal parts blood and smoke, with echoes of Dylan, Gram Parsons, John Prine, and Neil Young stitched into its DNA.

From the first needle drop, the standout track “Joshua Tree” shimmers like a desert gem: cosmic country shot through with folk-rock undertones and lyrics that come from someone captured by the stark beauty and soul-cleansing mystique of the hi-desert’s magical backyard. “Joshua Tree” feels as though it was sent to the boys from beyond the veil with a wink and a nod from a Parsons and Prine. Vocalist Lee Briante leans into a fragile, higher register that bends time and space, while guitarist Aaron Bakker digs into a solo so insistent it feels like he’s carving into the landscape itself—a moment so vivid the band still jokes about him “digging a hole” in the studio.

The record plays like a soundtrack in search of a film — lived in, nostalgic yet fresh, unflinchingly honest, soulfully articulate with delicious sonic layers, and most definitely worth running into the flames for.

Mojave Gold: A New Desert Stage

That fire-tested resilience will be on display September 4, at 7 pm when The Far West takes the stage at Mojave Gold in Yucca Valley, the hi-desert’s newest live music destination. Opened in May of this year by a crew of local visionaries, the 7,000-square-foot venue blends restaurant, bar, and 500-capacity concert hall, with reclaimed wood from the Hollywood Bowl built into its bones. With chef Beren Ekine-Huett leading a zero-waste kitchen and Liz Garo booking the shows, Mojave Gold is already emerging as a worthy desert counterpart to the legendary Pappy & Harriet’s—an ideal stage for a band like The Far West, refined by fire and ready to light yours.

Mojave Gold photos by Ben Lolwing